Steps for Full-Time Lecturer Recruitment in the College of Arts & Sciences

From Receipt of Applications to the Offer

  1. Before starting to review applicant files, the search committee and department should agree on the processes and procedures for reviewing files and for selecting semi-finalists and finalists, as well as the criteria that will be used for selecting interview candidates. All search committee members should familiarize themselves with the principles and practices found in the Faculty Search Manual.
  2. Follow the department process to select the candidates proposed for campus interviews. While a departmental committee may be formed to lead the search, the faculty as a whole should participate in the discussion and selection of finalists for interviews. (The new hire is responsible to the whole department, not just a subfield or section of it. Therefore, the faculty as a whole should participate in raising questions of departmental interest about prospective finalists.
  3. Forward the proposed list of candidates for interview, with a copy of each dossier, electronically to the Office of Faculty Actions. At the same time, forward the names and curriculum vitae of the next three candidates who might be interviewed if the department decided to move farther down the list. Providing this information enables your divisional Associate Dean to review and confirm the quality of the shortlisted group.
  4. Once you receive the list approved by the appropriate Associate Dean, reach out to candidates to set up department interviews.
  5. The Department Chair should schedule a meeting with the appropriate Associate Dean after the final candidate interview has been completed and before the department meeting when faculty will discuss and possibly recommend an appointment. The Associate Dean and Chair will discuss the candidates and any issues that the Dean believes should be addressed in the department discussion.
  6. The department must take a formal vote on the decision to recommend any candidate for hiring to the Dean. The department can frame the decision in a number of ways: (a) the recommendation to extend an offer to one candidate, with postponement of further decisions to later discussions; (b) an agreement to a numerically ordered list of candidates to recommend for hiring should the first candidate(s) not accept an offer; (c) an agreement on any short-listed candidate(s) who should not remain in consideration any further.
  7. The department Chair must seek approval from the Associate Dean to make an offer of a position to a candidate.
  8. The department should develop and pursue a good recruitment plan – a strategy for getting a positive answer from the candidate receiving the offer. You are encouraged to include faculty from other BU departments and programs in which the candidate has interest.
  9. As soon as the candidate has accepted the offer, the department should communicate with all candidates, thanking them for their interest and informing them that the search has ended. In the case of any candidate who was interviewed on campus, the communication should be personally addressed and should thank them for their application and time.
  10. Please be in contact with the appropriate Associate Dean and/or Alex Bellan for help and advice in carrying out a successful search, screening, and recruitment process.